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Nina_Nia Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

"In flowers, shells and lizards, beautiful".

Hello,

I am a little confused by the second sentence in which there is no verb.
What does it mean?

His lifetime of works was once summarized by an Amsterdam doctor who said, "In flowers, shells and lizards, beautiful". (His works were beautiful in: flowers, shells and lizards...)
Thanks
  

Top answer

Hi Nina, I don't know exactly, without knowing who is being talked about here. But it looks like it could be rearranged as "An Amsterdam doctor said that his lifetime of works was beautiful, when it came to flowers, shells and lizards". Presumably the subject here is a biologist of some kind?

— DMW

  • Hi Nina, I don't know exactly, without knowing who is being talked about here.
  • But it looks like it could be rearranged as "An Amsterdam doctor said that his lifetime of works was beautiful, when it came to flowers, shells and lizards".
  • Presumably the subject here is a biologist of some kind?
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3 Answers
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Hi Nina,
I don't know exactly, without knowing who is being talked about here. But it looks like it could be rearranged as "An Amsterdam doctor said that his lifetime of works was beautiful, when it came to flowers, shells and lizards".

Presumably the subject here is a biologist of some kind?
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Thank you, David for such a quick reply. The doctor was talking about a Dutch painter Balthasar van der Ast.
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Hah, of course. Van der Ast is known for his shells and lizards. I don't know why I was thinking of a biologist - my interpretation makes even more sense this way!
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